Coordinators' Thursday at Dolphins camp

Both Paul Pasqualoni and Dan Henning are speaking to the media this year on every Thursday. That, by the way, is because the NFL compels them to do that.

So this is what they're saying today:

Pasqualoni's scouting report (the complimentary version) on San Diego quarterback Phillip Rivers: "Like the first two [quarterbacks Miami faced], he can make all the throws. He puts a lot into every throw. He pushes up in the pocket very well. Can move, isn't bad on the move as well ... He's just got great competitiveness, great pocket awareness ... Great toughness ... Truly, what you want to see in your quarterback."

The Dolphins defense has had mixed results in the first two games. It played well enough to win in the opener. It was the primary reason for the defeat against Indianapolis.

The Chargers have the No. 5 overall offense in the NFL, ranked higher than either Indy or Atlanta.

"It doesn't get any easier," Pasqualoni said. "If there were easy solutions to these problems, everybody would have them. There are no easy solutions. When you have the combinations, and it just so happens, they all run the ball, they all have receivers you have to pay attention to, in addition to the tight end, in addition now this week, maybe their most productive receiver is [Darren Sproles] and he's coming out of the backfield. We're not getting less, we're getting more."

Henning, Miami's offensive coordinator followed Pasqualoni's 10-minute session with a 10-minute session of his own.

He talked about the game plan for Indianapolis and how that worked out:

"We went in the game and the objective from the boss was run the ball effectively, keep that opponent off the field, convert third downs, score as many points as we could. So we had 45 minutes, we converted 15 first downs, I don't know when I've done that before and we scored five out of the eight possession we had the ball. Now we didn't win the game so you can be disappointed. But I'm not discouraged with the way they played."

He talked about the Dolphins final possession when they needed to overcome a 27-23 lead but did not:

"We needed a touchdown and we didn't get one," Henning said. "We lost a timeout because I sent the wrong group of people in with a play. And Chad [Pennington] will usually straighten that out, but he had to call a time out because we didn't have the right people in the game. At that point we had one time out. We started to move down the field and we got a sack. And coach decided to take a time out there. Even with that time out and the sack we got 14 plays in. In 14 plays you got to get the ball in the end zone. We didn't make the plays to get it in the end zone. I think a lot more has been made of what went on out there than what went on out there.

Henning talked about the fateful throw from Pennington to Ginn that glanced off Ginn's hands:

"Chad made a great read on the ball he threw to Teddy in the end zone. And I would expect Teddy feels that 5 out of 10 times he's going to come down with that ball. We wouldn't have said anything about the two minutes then."

Henning said the Chargers, ranked 24th in the NFL versus the run, think a bit like Atlanta does in defending the run.

"They like to bring an extra guy down into the box and challenge you with their two good corners," he said.

Finally, in the Indianapolis game, Henning said Chad Pennington had 19 either-or plays in which he decides, depending on the look of the defense, whether to run or throw the ball. A couple of those included third-and-7 play from the Indy 22 yard line with 56 seconds left.

Pennington went with a Ricky Williams run and the Dolphins kicked the field goal.

Finally, the Dolphins offensive line is nursing some bumps and bruises. Left guard Justin Smiley (shoulder) was limited during practice today. RT Vernon Carey, limited Wednesday, returned to full work. Linebacker Joey Porter also was limited with a right hamstring issue.